Communications Law Commons^™

Bowie Bonds: A Key To Unlocking, The Wealth Of Intellectual Property, Nicole Chu

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Before David Bowie broke a new frontier in financing by selling $55 million in bonds backed by future music royalty payments and copyrights, music royalties and copyrights had never previously been securitized due to the uncertainty in predicting future cash flows. The concept of intellectual property securitization resolves the dilemma of inexpensively raising a large amount of money, while still retaining ownership in the underlying intellectual property. Asset securitization of intellectual property touches upon copyright, bankruptcy, tax, and securities law, as well as being impacted by the Uniform Commercial Code. This Note provides a brief overview of the securitization structure, …

Copyright, Culture & (And) Black Music: A Legacy Of Unequal Protection, K. J. Greene

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This article explores how African-American music artists, as a group, were routinely deprived of legal protection for creative works under the copyright regime. The issue of copyright deprivation and Black artists is highly significant, given the enormous cultural contribution of Black music to American society, the importance of the music to Black culture, and the tremendous economic benefits at stake. As new issues develop in copyright law, it will be important to people of color, and to an egalitarian society as a whole, that the new copyright regime not duplicate the inequalities of the old. An underlying assumption of race-neutrality …

Signal Bleed: Congress Attacks When It Sounds Like Sex, Josh C. Grushkin

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Section 505 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 attempts to eliminate the phenomenon of signal bleed from sexually explicit adult channels. This Note argues that section 505 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 should ultimately be found unconstitutional, and that Congress address the phenomenon of signal bleed of sexually explicit programming through other alternatives which are less constitutionally offensive.

Toxic Television, Editorial Discretion, & (And) The Public Interest: A Rocky Mountain Low, Clay Calvert

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

In the modem world of newsmedia, the lines between informative news and gratuitous entertainment have been blurred by a increase in "infotainment" broadcasting and by news shows which often use violence or other entertainment devices to increase audiences. This trend has given rise to concerns that the current regulatory scheme is not properly categorizing this type of "news" and is not sufficiently warning or protecting viewers. In this article, Professor Calvert examines the questions surrounding this controversy. To illustrate some of these issues, this article looks at a recent challenge brought by a Colorado group to the renewal of the …

Tobacco Is A Filthy Weed And From The Devil Doth Proceed: A Study Of The Government's Efforts To Regulate Smoking On The Silver Screen, Jason Edward Lavender

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Many of the negative effects of tobacco have been addressed by recent litigation and federal regulations. The federal government already regulates tobacco label and advertisement content and prohibits tobacco promotion on television and radio. There are lingering concerns, however, about the effects of depicting tobacco use in movies. This Note examines current tobacco regulations and the justifications asserted for new restrictions on the use of tobacco in movies. This Note further analyzes the First Amendment implications of a ban on tobacco use in movies, and concludes that such use is commercial speech that should be granted heightened Constitutional protection.

Keeping The World Safe From Naked-Chicks-In-Art Refigerator Magnets: The Plot To Control Art Images In The Public Domain Through Copyrights In Photographic And Digital Reproductions, Kathleen Connolly Butler

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This article addresses an emerging and significant problem in the realm of copyright and art law: the control of public domain art images through the copyright of photographic and digital reproductions. This problem occurs since galleries or collections have control over the duplication of fine art images by the public and have used this control to generate exclusive reproductions of the art, which, under present law, are copyrightable themselves, precluding public use of these images of concededly public domain art. Professor Butler argues that this de facto control over art which is rightfully in the public domain both gives economic …

Hong Kong's Copyright Ordinance: How The Ban On Parallel Imports Affects The U.S. Entertainment Industry And Hong Kong's Free Market, Alison L. Morr

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Parallel importing has attracted debate, pairing free trade and consumer choice against copyright owners and exclusive licensees' rights. Hong Kong law prevents licensees from exporting a product outside a designated area, but also forms geographic monopolies from which the exclusive licensee receives economic benefits. This Comment assesses Hong Kong's copyright protection by comparing proponent and opponent arguments, and analyzing the external pressures surrounding the passage of the Copyright Ordinance and a similar Taiwanese restriction. The focus of this Comment is on the Copyright Ordinance's effects on parallel importing in exclusive licensees' territories, specifically the influx of international entertainment products.

Trade Dress Protection For Product Configurations And The Federal Right To Copy, Margareth Barrett

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

No abstract provided.

A New Program For Action: Strengthening The Standards For Noncommercial Educational Licensees, Randi M. Albert

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This article explores the history of noncommercial television and radio broadcasting, and evaluates the utility and efficacy of the FCC's current standards for determining when broadcasting qualifies as "noncommercial" and is eligible for benefits concomitant with this status. Professor Albert posits that, in order to effectively evaluate the existence of a commercial/noncommercial broadcast distinction at all, one must look at the development of the law in this area and determine whether the current rules are serving their stated function. To this end, the article traces the history of noncommercial broadcasting and explicates the purpose for such a status. It also …

Freedom Of The Press And The Business Of Journalism: The Myth Of Democratic Competition In The Marketplace Of Ideas, 67 Rev. Jur. U.P.R. 447 (1998), Alberto Bernabe

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Einstein's Hair, Jonathan A. Franklin

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of From Privacy Toward a New Intelletual Property Right in Persona: The Right of Publicity (United States) and Portrait Law (Netherlands) Balanced with Freedom of Speech and Free Trade Principles by Julius C.S. Pinckaers

Privacy And Telecommunications, Fred H. Cate

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article explores the differences in privacy protection between the European Union and the United States, and examines the emerging conflict over data protection. Professor Cate analyzes the European data protection Directive, with particular emphasis on the Directive's extraterritorial provisions. He then examines privacy protection under United States laws and the extent to which that protection satisfies the requirements of the Directive. Finally, Professor Cate focuses on privacy issues involved in telecommunications, an area significantly regulated by United States and European laws, and therefore one area in which some commonality among privacy protection might be anticipated. Even in this highly …

Regulatory Change In The Energy And Telecommunications Industries - Overview, Barry J. Waldman

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Recent changes in the telecommunications industry and the emerging momentum for change in the regulation of the energy industry have provided a unique opportunity to reevaluate the regulatory models that have predominated in these fields. As these proposed changes are promulgated and begin to take effect and find practical form, crucial questions of implementation become the focus of the debate and the practice of regulatory law. Basic questions are ripe for consideration, such as: Will the regulators be State or Federal Agencies? What form should this regulatory power take? Will legislators and regulators focus on new players in the industry …

Invasion Of Privacy Tort: Does The Deference Given To The Press Ignore The Family, T. Michael Wickersham

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Malaysia's Censorship Regime Collides With The Economic Realities Of The Twenty-First Century, Aaron D. Davidson

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Despite an extensive history of censorship and political speech suppression, Malaysia's Vision 2020 goal of becoming a fully developed nation requires the nation to facilitate an open exchange of ideas and information. The government seeks to create a center for broadcasting, filmmaking, and the development of multimedia products. While Malaysia has begun to abandon some of its censorship practices, the remaining restrictions on its citizens' speech and press freedoms threaten to hamstring the country's efforts to become a fully developed nation by 2020.

This Note discusses Malaysia's beginning as a British colony, identifying the religious, racial, and class distinctions now …

Public Interest Regulation In The Digital Tv Era, Henry Geller

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Deception In Political Advertising: The Clash Between The First Amendment And Defamation Law, Evan Richman

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Regulation Of The Electronic Mass Media: Law And Policy For Radio, Television, Cable And The New Technologies, Michael Botein

Books

No abstract provided.

Does The Constitution Require That We Kill The Competitive Goose? Pricing Local Phone Services To Rivals, William J. Baumol, Thomas W. Merrill

Faculty Scholarship

This Article concludes a series by these authors and Professors J. Gregory Sidak and Daniel F. Spulber, published last year in this journal. Here, Professors Baumol and Merrill address the issues surrounding the pricing of local phone services to long distance rivals, clarifying their points of agreement and disagreement with Sidak and Spulber. In their previous articles, Sidak and Spulber argued that the movement toward competition in local telephone service should be accompanied by substantial compensation to existing local telephone carriers, a view that Baumol and Merrill do not share. Rather, they note three points of disagreement between Sidak and …

News Media Coverage Of The United States Supreme Court, Stephen Wermiel

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Enlightenment, Donald J. Herzog

Articles

It's a curious broadside, a work of austere graphics and polite prose far removed from the mischievous engravings and bawdy ballads usually appearing on such sheets. Drawn from an address that 345 printers had signed and 138 had presented to the queen, the original text was committed to parchment "and accompanied by a Copy surperbly printed on white Satin, edged with white Silk Fringe, backed with purple Satin, and mounted in an Ivory Roller with appropriate Devices." Even in the published version, the arch is full of intricately detailed work. The printers took pride in their craftmanship: "This Specimen of …

Archibald Cox: Teacher, David J. Seipp

Faculty Scholarship

Archie Cox is a teacher. He taught generations of law students at Harvard Law School and, more recently, at Boston University School of Law. He left the classroom on three occasions, reluctantly, when first President Truman, then President Kennedy, then President Nixon's Attorney General called Professor Cox to Washington to play a part on the national stage. In his first weeks as Watergate Special Prosecutor, Cox carried with him a stack of blue books, Labor Law examinations he still had to grade (p. 263). In the public eye, his straight-backed demeanor, his familiar crew cut, half-glasses, bow tie, and tweeds …